Flash: Workflow and Workspace Tips

Editor's note: Robert Hoekman has an excerpt offering to help improve your workflow and organize your workspace while using Flash. Learn how to adjust preferences under each tab, customize the keyboard shortcuts, and personalize the panel layout. Like reading a book from the back to the front, here's a sneak peak at Appendix A from all the way in the back of the book.

You're still here? Oh. Well then I guess I'll keep talking.
Here are some tips that can improve your workflow while using Flash. I hope this
appendix answers some of the questions that may be lingering in your head.

Preferences

Just like every program out there, Flash has a Preferences dialog box. Flash's
Preferences dialog box has five tabs, and each tab has several sections. The following
subsections suggest ways you can improve or enhance the performance and functionality
of Flash by adjusting the preferences under each tab. I won't tell you about
every tab and every option in Preferences, just the ones I think will help you. (I've
excluded the Clipboard and Warnings tabs because they're just not very exciting.)

To follow along, open the Preferences dialog box by choosing Edit → Preferences
on Windows, or Flash (Professional) → Preferences on Mac.

The General Tab

The General tab, shown in Figure A-1, contains miscellaneous preferences that don't
seem to belong anywhere else. Here, I highlight some preferences of particular
interest.

Undo levels

When you first install Flash, the number of undo levels is set to 1000 (although
this defaults to 100 in the 7.2 update). But the undo stack requires memory that
your computer may not have to spare. Everything you do must be remembered by Flash
so that it can be undone if requested. With this number set so high, your computer
is doing more work than you probably realize just to track every step you take.
Lowering this number decreases the amount of memory required to run Flash. I leave
mine set to 200, but you can choose whatever number you are comfortable with. Don't
set it too low--you still want to be able to undo.

Highlight color

Selecting an object on the Stage highlights it with a blue bounding box by default.
You can change the highlight color using the nearby color swatch if you set the
Highlight Color option to Use This Color. Alternatively, each layer in the timeline
has its own colored square next to the layer name. To highlight all of the objects
on a particular layer using the layer color, change the Highlight Color option
to Use Layer Color. This makes it easier to tell the objects on one layer apart
from another. This color is also used when viewing content in outline mode (View → Preview
Mode → Outlines). You can set the color for the selected layer in the Layer
Properties dialog box (Modify → Timeline → Layer Properties).

On launch

This section of the General tab enables you to choose what to show upon launching
Flash. By default, the Start screen is shown, but you can choose to have Flash
open a new document, the last document you had open, or no document at all.
Personally, I find the Start screen pretty handy, as you can use it to quickly open
various types of new templates or reopen any of the last
ten opened documents. There are also options in the Start screen to search Macromedia's
web site and launch the Flash Exchange. Nonetheless, you may find it more desirable
to open the last document you worked on.

Figure A-1. The General Preferences tab

The Editing Tab

The Editing tab, shown in Figure A-2, contains preferences for the Pen tool,
drawing settings, and project settings. Following are some highlights.

For those of you using Flash Pro, this section enables you to close project files
when you close a project in the Project panel (Window → Project) and save
project files when you test or publish an opened project. If you don't tell
Flash to close all of the project files at once, you'll have to do it yourself.
And that's just no fun.

The ActionScript Tab

The ActionScript tab, shown in Figure A-3, lets you configure all sorts of things
related to writing code in Flash, such as the font used in the Actions panel,
how reserved keywords are color coded, and whether you want to use code hints.

Figure A-3. The ActionScript Preferences tab

Editing options

Here, you can set the amount of time delay for code hints when typing in the
Actions panel, from 0 to 4 seconds. If you like code hints, 4 seconds can
be a long time to wait, so leave it set to 0. If you want to disable code hints
entirely, simply uncheck the Code Hints checkbox.

Text

Some developers swear that they absolutely must use certain types of fonts when
writing code, but you can use whatever you want. In this section of the ActionScript
tab, you can change the font and font size of ActionScript in the Actions panel
to something you might find easier to read. The default is 10-point Monaco (on
Mac) or 10-point Courier New (on Windows).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Many commands and features in Flash already have corresponding keyboard shortcuts,
such as pressing V to activate the Selection tool. But you may want a speedier
way to run a command or open a custom panel set (which I'll show you how
to create in a minute). Here's how to customize the keyboard shortcuts:

Choose Keyboard Shortcuts from the Edit menu on Windows (or the Flash (Professional)
menu on Mac) to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, shown in Figure A-4.

Click
the Duplicate Set button in the dialog box, name the new keyboard shortcut
set (name it after your dog, perhaps), and click OK.

In the Commands section of
the dialog box, expand the File menu and select Close All (which closes all
open documents and libraries).

In the Shortcut section, click Add Shortcut, and
press the keys you want to use as the new shortcut. For example, you might
press Ctrl+Shift+W on Windows or Cmd+Shift+W on Mac. The keys you press appear
in the Press Key field.

Click the Change button. This opens a message warning
you that the shortcut is already assigned to the Work Area command, which is,
in my opinion, completely useless (all it does is shove the Stage up against
the timeline, eliminating the work area space between them).

Click Reassign.

Click OK to close the dialog box.

Now, when you have more than one document or more than one library open, simply
use this keyboard shortcut to close all of your Flash files at once.

You can set up whatever custom shortcuts you like using the preceding procedure.

You want another tip? When you need to see the Stage a little better and
get some of those panels out of the way, press F4 to hide all of the panels
at once. Press it again to show the panels.

Figure A-4. The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box

Panel Layout

Customizing the panel layout in Flash enables you to organize your workspace
exactly the way you want, but first you need to know how to dock and undock
panels:

To undock a panel, locate two panels that are docked together. Click on
the titlebar (more specifically, click on the little dots on the left side
of the titlebar) of one of them and drag the panel away from the other panel,
and then release the mouse button.

To redock the panel, drag it over the top of the titlebar of another panel
until a heavy black line appears between them. Then release the mouse button.

When you've got that mastered, here's how to customize your panel
layout:

From the Window menu, open any panel you believe you'll use often.

Next,
choose Window → Design Panels, Window → Development Panels,
and Window → Other Panels to locate any panels that are currently not open.
Open the ones you think you'll use often.

Arrange the panels in any way
you like. Leave a nice view of the Stage, Tools panel, Properties panel, and
Timeline panel (you use those a lot in Flash).

When everything is arranged how
you like it, choose Window → Save Panel
Layout to open the Save Panel Layout dialog box.

Give your panel set a name and click OK to close the dialog box.

My preferred setup is shown in Figure A-5 (note that my preferred setup is on
a Macintosh, with iTunes running--it's what keeps me sane). In fact,
I've saved this custom panel set as Flash Out of
the Box Panel Set and
included it on the enclosed CD-ROM (in the Appendix folder). You can install
it by placing it in the Panel Sets directory in your Flash MX 2004 installation
folder.

Flash remembers your current layout the next time you launch it, but you might
move things around while working. Any time you want to restore your workspace
to your saved panel layout, simply choose Window → Panel Sets → your
panel set. Choose the Default Layout or Training Layout panel set from this menu
if your windows become hopelessly misarranged or if you can't locate a
panel you need.

Figure A-5. My preferred workspace setup

Miscellaneous Tips

And here are a few tips that don't seem to fit into the previous categories.

Save and Compact

Adding assets to a Flash document, whether they're bitmaps, symbols, or scripts,
can substantially increase the size of the .fla file. In the event you need to
FTP the document or email it to someone, a large file can be a huge problem. To
remedy this, choose File → Save and Compact. This menu option can cut the
file size of a large file in half. Generally, it decreases file size by even more
than half, especially if you have deleted unused assets from the Library. Using
File → Save, which performs an incremental save, doesn't ordinarily
lower the file size of the .fla, but Save and Compact squashes your file nicely.

Quick Edits

To quickly enter Edit mode for a Library symbol, click the Edit Symbols button
in the Edit bar attached to the timeline, as shown in Figure A-6.

Figure A-6. The Edit Symbols menu in the Edit bar

Simply locate the symbol name and click. Voilà! You're in Edit mode.

Tabbed Documents

Windows users get a little bonus when working with multiple .fla files. If the
document windows are maximized within the Flash authoring window, each open document
adds one tab to the top of the Flash document window. Click through the tabs
to access each open document quickly. Otherwise, you can access open documents
from the bottom of the Window menu.

Transfer Software License

This is one of my favorite new features. Suppose you have one licensed copy of
Flash MX 2004 installed on two computers (this is allowed by the End User License Agreement,
or EULA) and suddenly find yourself needing to take Flash with you on your laptop
for a business trip. Well, go right ahead and do it, mister; I'm not stopping
you.

To do this, choose Help → Transfer Your Software License to open the Macromedia
Product Activation screen. Click Transfer License and wait. The license is transferred
to a Macromedia server, which tracks your registration information with the serial
number for your copy of Flash. Next, install Flash on your laptop and register
it with the same serial number.

The key here is that you can legally register one copy of Flash on two computers
and install Flash on as many computers as you want. You can't, however, use
Flash on both computers at the same time (according to the EULA). So before you
head for the airport, transfer the license from one computer and then register
the copy on your laptop. Instantly, you have a portable copy of Flash. When you
get back from your trip, transfer the license from your laptop and register the
copy on your main computer. Everything is legal and everyone's happy.

Enable Simple Buttons

Need to see how a button looks but don't want to go to the trouble of running
yet another test movie? Choose Control → Enable Simple Buttons. You can now
roll over and click those buttons on stage just as you would in a test movie. They
do not, however, run any ActionScript associated with them. Enabling simple buttons
allows you to see the button in context.

Check Spelling

Now, I'm an excelent speler. I don't mean to boste, but realy, I am
very guud. I wun speling beez in skool and everything. But you mite not bee az
good az me.

Once again--Flash to the rescue. To check your entire .fla file for spelling
mistakes, choose Text → Check Spelling. A dialog box opens, through which you
can verify
every word Flash does not understand. And if your typing skills are as bad as mine,
it might take a while.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ladies and germs, not all features are documented. Sometimes you
just have to hunt them down and find your own ways to make working with Flash
easier and faster. I've done what I can for you. Now go away. I'm
all done with you. Check the resources in Chapter 13 if you need more than I
can offer.

Happy Flashing!

Robert Hoekman, Jr.
, is a Certified Macromedia Flash MX Designer and has worked with Flash since version 3. He is also the founder and manager of the Flash and Multimedia User Group of Arizona, an official Macromedia User Group (MMUG) with approximately 150 members.